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==== APO 3.5-m Users Committee Telecon, 5/03/2022 ====

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Attending: Nancy Chanover (NMSU), Joanne Hughes (Seattle U), Jamey Eriksen (APO), Denise Stephens (BYU), Moire Prescott (NMSU), Eric Bellm (UW), Russet McMillan (APO), Chip Kobulnicky (UWy), Adam Kowalski (CU), Anne Verbiscer (UVa), Ben Williams (UW), Misty Bentz (GSU), Mukremin Kilic (OU), Derek Buzasi (FGCU)


=== User feedback and comments from institutional representatives ===

  * FGCU - nothing to report
  * NAPG - no report
  * Seattle - Joanne sent Sarah Tuttle a list of targets for testing the manufacturing process of slit masks
  * BYU - nothing to report
  * Wyoming - nothing to report
  * Oklahoma - Muk recently conducted two back-to-back on-site training visits for a large group of students and two TA's. He passed along his thanks to Russet, Candace and the observatory staff for making their visit so enjoyable and informative. Nancy will send Muk the updated training evaluation form so he can distribute it to his students.
  * Georgia State - nothing to report
  * UVa - nothing to report
  * Colorado - nothing to report
  * JHU - nothing to report (by email)
  * NMSU - nothing to report
  * Washington - nothing to report

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=== Telescope and Instruments Report === 

The detailed site report is included below, followed by additional information discussed during today's meeting.

//3.5-m Telescope and Instruments Highlights, 4/05/2022 - 5/01/2022//

0) Overview

APO is no longer under any staffing or indoor masking restrictions from the State of New Mexico due to COVID.  The COVID vaccination policy for ARC/APO has not changed.

Weather for April has been cloudy, mostly seasonal.  

Q2 in person training started with OU training in early April.

1) Telescope

The telescope experienced an (as yet) unexplained pointing shift in March. It appears to be related to an un-commanded movement in one of the secondary actuators. Pointing was reset and the telescope is being monitored.

2) Instruments

KOSMOS: Commissioning activities are continuing; the instrument is still being offered on a shared risk basis. A replacement shutter for the slitviewer is on order (low temperature operation issue).  Flux was decreased for internal lamps, more tuning is needed.
 
DIS: Had a power supply failure in early April.  Repaired on 4/20.  Scattered light has leveled off for both the blue and red cameras.  Please note that the red camera flat field lens has significant water spots. Extended object science is not recommended with the red channel at this time. 

TripleSpec: TCAM had a failure in early April; the RAID is showing some signs of failure. We have also taken the precaution of replacing fans and the power supply in the tcamera-icc. Attempts to recover the system have so far failed.  The TripleSpec science camera was working fine except that telescope information is missing from the headers (similar to the problem with Agile) while tcamera-icc is down. Attempts at observing science targets without the use of TCAM have been mixed. Brighter targets have shown greater success. 
 
Agile: Cold, operational and performing nominally. There is a known issue with missing observatory and WCS cards from the headers that we are trying to track down. This problem seemed to originate about the time we converted and moved the hub35m to a new server (mid December). A recent pointing issue is also being investigated. 

Echelle: Echelle inter-order light has leveled off.
 
NICFPS: The instrument is performing nominally with the occasional need to reset the controller due to corrupted images, and previous cautions about rotator angle.
 
ARCTIC: Cold, operational and performing nominally. 

We expect to be working on the commissioning of two PI-level visiting instruments in Q2.

3) ARCSAT: Recent use has been relatively problem free.

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=== Additional telescope and instrument discussion === 

The issue regarding the water spots on the DIS-red camera flatfield lens has been with us since October. It impacts users who are observing extended objects more than those observing point sources. For extended object science users are recommended to use KOSMOS rather than DIS. Users are reminded to check the Instrument News: Current Status page ([[https://www.apo.nmsu.edu/arc35m/Engineering/index.html]]) prior to their observing run to get the latest update on their scheduled instrument.

In addition to changing the power to the internal flat field lamps for KOSMOS, we installed a neutral density filter in a KOSMOS filter wheel. This should provide users with a way to take unsaturated/linear internal flats with larger slits. The KOSMOS users guide will be updated with details. Users are encouraged to provide feedback regarding how well this solution is working.

TripleSpec is currently down because the slit viewer camera control computer is having issues. The instrument can be used without tcam, provided that the targets are bright (~8-9 magnitudes) so that a single short exposure spectrum is sufficient for determining how well (or if) the target is centered on the slit. Several parts are still on order and we continue to try and diagnose this issue. Upcoming TripleSpec users should check the instrument status web page and try to identify a backup instrument/program. 

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=== KOSMOS Update === 

Aside from the above regarding the internal flat field lamps, some progress is being made on developing the capability to make multi object slit masks. Whereas previously we reported that the old mask generating software from KPNO was not working, the observatory staff was able to get it to run. Progress!

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=== Q2 3.5m scheduling ===

There is a fair amount of OPEN/DD time that is available in June. A more limited amount is available in May, and we have already received several requests for it. Interested users are encouraged to request any OPEN or DD time through the standard procedure, i.e. by emailing Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional scheduler. In addition, there is the possibility of more Q2 OPEN time becoming available in June due to a scheduling change. It may be possible to arrange a swap for more Q2 time in exchange for less Q3 time; it would help observatory staff to know if users would prefer time on setting versus rising Q2 targets. We will notify users about potential June time that opens up via the institutional schedulers, but any individuals interested in discussing a potential trade from Q3 to Q2 should notify Ben, Russet, Nancy, and their institutional schedulers.

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=== Q2 ARCSAT scheduling ===

There is some open time available that users can request.

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=== Q3 3.5m scheduling ===

The updated dates of the summer shutdown are 1-22 Aug, with a return to science on 8/23. The institutional allocations will be sent out soon.

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=== Discussion of Users' Wiki ===

The 3.5m users wiki needed to be migrated to a different platform because the old one (''trak'') was not compatible with python 3. We identified a new wiki platform, ''DokuWiki'', which we are migrating to. It should be straightforward to migrate users from the old wiki to the new one, and most of the old content was migrated from trak to DokuWiki.

Because we are in the midst of revamping the wiki, this is a good time to reevaluate its purpose, organization, content, and utility. A quick poll of the Users Committee reps indicated that most people either don't use it or have used it in the past as a reference for data reduction guidance. While it is not intended to supersede information that is on the APO web pages (maintained by APO staff), the user contributed wiki is viewed as a path towards documentation, i.e. a repository where users can report things that work, issues they have had with data reduction, etc.

**The UC reps were asked to disseminate the link to the new wiki ([[http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/apo-wiki/]]) and ask users for feedback** concerning the following:

  * content: what is missing (what do you wish were there that you can't find)? are there obsolete items that can be removed?
  * organization: does the structure make sense? is it easy to find what you are looking for?
  * utility: how can we make the wiki more useful for user community?

The UC reps reported the following feedback from their users:

  * general content seems fine
  * would like to see a quick-look table for each instrument - with the same formatting - showing general characteristics and performance data. This way the users would always know where to go to find that information quickly.
  * we do not want to have sensitive documents from the Board meetings posted on the wiki

Next steps: Nancy will investigate having accounts made for users. We will continue to welcome feedback on the wiki.


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=== ACTION ITEMS === 

Open action items from previous meetings:

  * Nancy: start investigations re: short wavelength throughput (climate data, other facilities). Status: OPEN. Nancy reached out to some colleagues at other observatories to ask about short wavelength performance degradation of their optical coatings. She got some names from Bill and will contact those individuals next.
  * Nancy: coordinate with Candace on revisions to training feedback form. Status: CLOSED. Nancy and Candace iterated on the training evaluation form and it is ready to be distributed.
  * UC reps: notify your users of remaining open/DD time in Q2. Status: OPEN.
  * UC reps: get feedback from users on wiki (see above). Status: CLOSED.

New action items from this meeting:

  * None.

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=== All Other Business ===

Discussion of calls for second half of 2022. Proposed dates: Jul 5*, Aug 2, Sep 6*, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6. *denotes a Tuesday after a Monday holiday. If anyone has issues with our regular meeting day/time (first Tuesday of the month at 10:30 Mountain Time) please tell Nancy.

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=== Next meeting ===

The next meeting will be on **Tuesday June 7, 10:30 am MDT.**

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